it is vital to potential patients to gain as much information as possible about a particular physician and/or treatment facility, e.g., a hospital, before selecting that particular physician as a primary care doctor or specialist or that particular place of treatment. The Internet has become a significant source of information to consumers in general. Indeed, consumers rely heavily on the Internet for information and data. However, one well-recognized problem with the Internet is that the patient often cannot assess the veracity of the information which is revealed through an Internet search query using a common search engine, such as Google, Yahoo, etc. Further, with regard to healthcare provider information in particular, there are few, if any resources available for patients to discover any information, much less verified information, about physicians or hospitals. Typically, any information about physicians or hospitals on the Internet is provided by the physicians or hospitals themselves (and, in some cases, insurance companies). Such information may not be updated on a regular basis or may contain inaccurate or incomplete information. Further, even if such information is available, it is usually not organized in a manner that would allow a patient to compare physicians or hospitals, search for a particular physician or hospital by geographic area or other criteria, or verify a physician's or hospital's certifications and licensures.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made. Although specific problems have been addressed in this Background, this disclosure is not intended in any way to be limited to solving those specific problems.